President Trump spoke Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference about gun rights and gun-free zones. (Screen capture, YouTube, ABC)

One of the nation’s leading Second Amendment activist organizations on Friday blasted what it calls the “feel-good fakery of gun control and gun-free zones” while a famous Arizona firearms training academy is offering a five-day training course to school administrators in an effort to prevent future tragedies like the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida.

This comes as President Donald Trump addressed the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, pledging to protect the Second Amendment. He used the occasion to warn an enthusiast audience that if Democrats re-take control of Congress, they will “take away your tax cuts and your Second Amendment.”

The president once again voiced his opposition to “gun free zones” and his support for armed teachers in the schools to act as a deterrent or defense against mass shooters. His comments also criticized by name a Broward County Sheriff’s deputy who, it was revealed Thursday, waited outside the school building where the mass shooting was happening for several minutes while gunfire was audible inside.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms seized on this revelation to strike back at gun control proponents.

“Honest citizens and the Second Amendment are through being the national whipping boy for these abysmal failures,” Gottlieb said. “For years, we have endured the efforts of anti-gun elitists and their political lap dogs to erode our rights and hold honest gun owners responsible for crimes they didn’t commit. We have been slandered, marginalized and demonized.

“The feel-good fakery of gun control and gun-free zones has been exposed in the aftermath of the Parkland tragedy. Enough is enough.”—Alan Gottlieb, CCRKBA

While President Trump was telling his audience that America is “heartbroken” in the aftermath of the school attack, Gottlieb was taking off the gloves against restrictive gun control laws, declaring that, “The time has come to scrap these irresponsible policies.”

“We must give teachers and administrators a fighting chance,” he said, “especially if armed authorities hesitate. Instead of treating gun owners as second class citizens we should allow them the option of being first responders.”

And that’s where the Gunsite Academy, founded in 1976 by the late Col. Jeff Cooper, a recognized self-defense expert, has stepped in. On Thursday, Gunsite Chief Operating Officer Ken Campbell announced the free training offer. In a telephone interview, he told Liberty Park Press that he has already received several email inquiries.

“We want to reach the policy makers,” he said about the offer to school administrators.

Some school districts around the country have already adopted armed teacher/staff policies, and a program created in Ohio to train teachers – the FASTER (for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response) program has already reached hundreds of educators.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel revealed that Deputy Scot Peterson “never went in” when he arrived at the building where Douglas High students were being shot. Peterson was placed on unpaid leave and subsequently resigned.

One controversial proposal in the wake of the incident involving a 19-year-old suspect who legally purchased the AR-15 type rifle used in the shooting would be to raise the age limit for buying rifles to 21. Under existing federal law, it is 18. But CCRKBA’s Gottlieb suggested this is the wrong response.

“We trust young adults with the vote and the protection of our nation,” he said, “so we should trust them with the right to keep and bear arms as private citizens.

“It’s time to reverse course and stop this lethal march toward a mythical Utopia,” he added. “Fantasy world solutions do not stop real world threats. Years of gun control extremism have left us with nothing but tears, sorrow and lost lives.”

Seventeen students and adults died in the Parkland school shooting. The suspect has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. Reports revealed that Broward County lawmen had been called to the suspect’s residence numerous times over the past few years, and that the FBI had been tipped about his behavior and threats at least twice, but had failed to follow up. He had also been expelled from the school.

President Trump met with families and students earlier this week to listen to their concerns.

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About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is an award-winning career journalist with an expertise in firearms and the outdoors. He is the author of several books dealing with firearms politics. He has a degree in editorial journalism from the University of Washington and is a lifelong Washington resident.